1880 channel tunnel 01/02/08

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Thanks to Trench and Powersurge for arranging this fun explore to the 1880 Channel tunnel attempt, when it was said to wear cloths you don't mind getting dirty and boots, it was no understatement. It is one very wet and dirty hole, but also beautiful in a dirt wet hole kind of way.

So on a cold and windy day Trench, Powersurge, Scrimshady, Littlewide, D60 and myself took a long walk by the sea.

As Trench and Powersurge guarded the entrance in case of snow drifts, we went in.

The first section of tunnels is strange, starting with a low sleeper lined tunnel leading to a lined low arched section then back to sleepers again.

The sleepers on the floor are like sponge in some areas and make a strange squelching noise under foot due to the water running under them. Once you enter the main bore the going is good to start, most of the sleepers on the floor are good and protect you from the stream running below your feet. As you progress it just gets muddier and the water gets deeper. It gets to a stage that without boots you can go no further, so as the others decide not to go on, I put my boots on. I start going in a little more and after about 50 ft it get to deep for even for boots, annoying really as I could see what looked like a larger chamber up ahead but just could not reach it.

I think the next visit should deliver a more extensive explore as scrim is going to bring his waders and I am going to suit up in my dry suit.

Here are some of the pics D60 took.

Thanks again to Trench and Powersurge.

The trip back was a little cold.

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It was a brilliant outing if a little on the cold side. Nice to meet Scrimshady, Super wide, Little wide and D60. I didn’t take all my kit on this visit as I was on guard duty, and only really stayed around the entrance. But I did have a little compact digital camera with me, so here's a few of mine.

D60 looking for his pet seal

Trench keeping guard

Gary the snail and his family

All that remains of the old wooden door that used to secure this site.

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The fun continued all day for D60, he lives near Sutton in Surrey the poor bloke left my house at about 5 and got home at 1:45 in the morning....not a happy chap as he has to be up at 5 to go to work in the city.

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First things first - this place is a death-trap. Simple as that. And it's quite likely to be worse now than it was when I went. But as I have a bit of an obsession about redundant old cinemas and theatres I left all common sense at the entrance.

The building still shows signs of its grand past but sadly any possibility of saving it looks pretty slim, although a Trust has been set up to try to preserve it and bring it back into use.

The four-storey building, designed by G. B. Rawcliffe, opened in 1894 as a music hall, before being converted to a cinema in 1938. It was last used as a bingo hall in 1995.

This gothic mansion was once owned by a doctor who released a mental health patient who sadly went on
to stab an 11 yr old girl to death. I believe he was pretty much chased out of his home by locals (they may or may not of have had burning torches)
Nice place though, there used to be more cars, but sadly there gone now.

This was my first ever trip down a mine. So a massive thanks to @EOA for making it happen and another massive thanks to @monk and his daughter for being excellent guides.

It was bloody awesome, I could've spent all day poking around the sheds at the top tbh. Underground however was just amazing. It's bloody big this place so a return visit over a couple of days with many more mine beers is a must.

History copied from the ever faithful Wikipedia. Obviously.

Maenofferen was first worked for slate by men from the nearby Diphwys quarry shortly after 1800. By 1848 slate was being shipped via the Ffestiniog Railway, but traffic on the railway ceased in 1850. In 1857 traffic resumed briefly and apart from a gap in 1865, a steady flow of slate was dispatched via the railway. The initial quarry on the site was known as the David Jones quarry which was the highest and most easterly of what became the extensive Maenofferen complex.
In 1861 the Maenofferen Slate Quarry Co. Ltd. was incorporated, producing around 400 tons of slate that year. The company leased a wharf at Porthmadog in 1862 and shipped 181 tons of finished slate over the Ffestiniog Railway the following year.
During the nineteenth century the quarry flourished and expanded, extending its workings underground and further downhill towards Blaenau Ffestiniog. By 1897 it employed 429 people with almost half of those working underground. The Ffestiniog Railway remained the quarry's major transport outlet for its products, but there was no direct connection from it to the Ffestiniog's terminus at Duffws. Instead slate was sent via the Rhiwbach Tramway which ran through the quarry. This incurred extra shipping costs that rival quarries did not have to bear.
In 1908 the company leased wharf space at Minffordd, installing turntables and siding to allow finished slates to be transshipped to the standard gauge railway there.
In 1920 the company solved its high shipping costs by building a new incline connecting its mill to the Votty & Bowydd quarry and reaching agreement to ship its products via that company's incline connection to the Ffestiniog Railway at Duffws.
Modern untopping operations at Maenofferen. The uncovered chambers of the Bowydd workings are clearly visible
In 1928 Maenofferen purchased the Rhiwbach quarry, continuing to work it and use its associated Tramway until 1953.
When the Ffestiniog Railway ceased operation in 1946, Maenofferen leased a short length of the railway's tracks between Duffws station and the interchange with the LMS railway, west of Blaenau Ffestiniog. Slate trains continued to run over this section until 1962, Maenofferen then becoming the last slate quarry to use any part of the Ffestiniog Railway's route. From 1962 slate was shipped from the quarry by road, although the internal quarry tramways including stretches of the Rhiwbach tramway continued in use until at least the 1980s.
The quarry was purchased by the nearby Llechwedd quarry in 1975 together with Bowydd, which also incorporated the old Votty workings: these are owned by the Maenofferen Company. Underground production at Maenofferen ceased during November 1999 and with it the end of large-scale underground working for slate in north Wales. Production of slate recommenced on the combined Maenofferen site, consisting of "untopping" underground workings to recover slate from the supporting pillars of the chambers. Material recovered from the quarry tips will also be recovered for crushing and subsequent use.

After discovering this place, reading a news article I decided to take a look. Theres not a great deal of history on this place other than the fact it was used as a home for ww2 soldiers after coming back from war. It's been home to several owners of the years however the place has fallen into disrepair. The manor is currently up for sale.

The explore itself went really well, after making our way through the grounds and finding an entrance, we were greeted with a stunning pool, with paintings on every wall. As we moved further on we found a sauna, bar, a superb inside courtyard, a huge basement complete with model railway and what looked like a full size tank made of wood, whoever previously lived in the manor was clearly very creative... The vast majority of rooms have Been emptied out however a few furnishings still remain. We made our way onto the roof when we noticed a man walking down the drive towards the manor, we noticed him walk around checking through the windows before leaving again. Must have been looking after the place and making sure nothing was damaged. We didn't get caught however so that's a bonus!

Since then we have been back however our original entrance had been sealed back up.

The Godarville tunnel was a boatunnel and has a length of 1050 meters.

In order to overcome the enormous differences in height on the Charleroi-Brussels canal, many locks were built in the Samme valley between Ronquières and Seneffe and a 1267 m long tunnel was built : La Bête tunnel.
Soon there was a need for a canal with a larger capacity and between 1854 and 1857 the canal was enlarged for vessels up to 350 tons.
The old tunnel, however, formed a bottleneck and so it was replaced by the new tunnel of Godarville. As a result, the number of locks was limited to 30. After the Second World War it was decided to make the canal navigable for ships up to 1350 tons.
Since neither the Samme nor the tunnel of Godarville could make this enlargement, a new route had to be built between Ronquières and Godarville. . The tunnel is closed with large metal gates on both sides to keep the cold out during the winter. On the south side, in the tunnel next to the canal, there is a towpath on which the horses towed the boats.
Dimensions
length: 1050 m
width: 8 m
maximum ship width: 5 m
maximum draft: 2.1 m

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Oblivion State exists as an online forum to allow like minded individuals to share their experiences of Urban Exploration. We do not condone breaking and entering or other criminal activity and advise all members to read the FAQ articles about the forum and urban exploring in general. All posts are the responsibility of the original poster and all images remain copyright to the original photographer